Most losses in college football history: Where Indiana, others rank among NCAA's biggest losers all time

Most losses in college football history: Where Indiana, others rank among NCAA's biggest losers all time originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

When the Indiana Hoosiers' football team went 11-2 in the 2024 season, making the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff bracket, it represented history for the program in more ways than one.

Indiana's 2024 season didn't just bring the most wins in team history (11), but it was also the first time the Hoosiers even eclipsed double-digit wins in a season. Under Curt Cigentti, Indiana has enjoyed a newfound success despite historically being one of college football's worst teams.

Being college football's all-time leader in losses is a combination of having a long program history with seasons upon seasons worth of struggles. And as it turns out, three Big Ten squads own the most all-time college football losses — with Indiana still stuck in that group despite its recent highs.

Here's a look at the all-time leaders in losses across NCAA football history.

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Who has the most losses in college football history?

Currently, the all-time leader in college football losses is Northwestern, which has lost a total of 718 games in 138 years. However, it was very recently that the Wildcats became the all-time losses leader.

For years, Indiana held the mark for all-time college football losses. Coming into the 2025 season, even after going 11-2 in 2024, the Hoosiers' 715 program losses were the most of any college football team — but then, Cignetti led his team to an undefeated regular season.

Because Indiana didn't lose a single game in the 2025 regular season, going 13-0, including the Big Ten Championship, that allowed Northwestern to start crawling closer to the all-time losses mark. The Wildcats came into 2025 with 712 all-time losses, three behind Indiana, and proceeded to go 7-6.

When Northwestern lost to USC 38-17 then Indiana beat Penn State 27-24 in early November of the 2025 season, the Wildcats officially surpassed the Hoosiers in all-time losses.

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Only one other college football team has eclipsed 700 losses: Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights finished the 2025 season at 5-7, dropping their all-time record to 686-708-42 over the program's 156 years.

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Most losses in college football by school

Here's a full look at the teams with the most losses in college football history.

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